Will China Open Door For Trade Talks As Trump Considers Cutting Tariffs?

After US President Donald Trump signalled a potential U-turn on his tariff war with China, Beijing said its door was "wide open" for trade talks with Washington, but won't proceed with it under continued threats from the Trump administration. This came after the American President earlier this week said there is a possibility of a "substantial" lowering of tariffs on Beijing amid continued market volatility.

"China's attitude towards the tariff war launched by the US is quite clear: we don't want to fight, but we are not afraid of it. If we fight, we will fight to the end; if we talk, the door is wide open," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a daily news conference in Beijing on Wednesday. 

Reiterating China's earlier stance, he said there are no winners in tariff wars and trade wars.

Guo stressed that if Washington wants to resolve the Trade war through negotiations, it should stop making threats and engage in dialogue with Beijing on equal grounds.

"The US can't say it wants a deal while exerting extreme pressure on China, and that strategy won't work," Guo added.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also warned on Wednesday that trade wars "undermine the legitimate rights and interests of all countries, hurt the multilateral trading system and impact the world economic order", state media said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry's statement came shortly after Trump acknowledged that 145 per cent on Beijing was a "very high" level and that it will "come down substantially". He said that he was not going "to play hardball" with China, and that the two countries would ultimately reach a trade agreement.

"Ultimately, they have to make a deal because otherwise, they're not going to be able to deal in the United States," the President said. He added that even after reduction, duties on China "won't be zero."

Trump's remark came after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a closed-door event on Tuesday that the tariffs amounted to a reciprocal trade embargo and expected a de-escalation in the near future, a person who was in the room told news agency AFP.

Bessent said there was much to be done at the end of the day with Beijing, but he noted the need for fair trade and said China needed to rebalance its economy. The Treasury chief stressed that the goal is not to decouple with China, noting that container bookings between both countries have slumped recently as trade tensions heated up.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also told reporters that Washington was "doing very well in respect to a potential trade deal with China".